


Better to Be A Tabletop Than A Tablebottom

by The_Unqualified1



Category: Control (Video Game)
Genre: Emily is into it, Established Relationship, F/F, Flirting, Furniture Foreplay, Jesse is a little shit, Ridiculous One Liners, So cheesy its hot, or so we hope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 10:27:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29682555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Unqualified1/pseuds/The_Unqualified1
Summary: Jesse and Emily are finally moving in together. First stop, picking out furniture. They take a trip to their local Ikea and something about the light or her smile or the weather or the day just puts Jesse in the mood. She decides to see what happens if she pushes some buttons...And Emily is loathe to admit it, it’s having the desired effect...
Relationships: Jesse Faden/Emily Pope
Comments: 12
Kudos: 33





	Better to Be A Tabletop Than A Tablebottom

**Author's Note:**

> This started from some absolute ridiculous pitch from some friends where I did this to these beloved characters and I was this close to being asked to leave the fandom 😂
> 
> Instead I doubled down for 2k words about absolute ridiculousness and I hope you’ll love it 🙏🏻

The sliding glass doors opened to the IKEA superstore and Jesse Faden walked in, hands in her pocket ahead of her girlfriend, though calling it something so highschool felt undermining. She smiled as she paused, waiting for her to catch up. She’d left her ‘notes’ in the car and doubled back. Notes may be too generous a term for the wrinkled post-it with numbers scribbled across it, but Emily Pope loved a good note.

Jesse smiled as the platinum blonde approached, proudly waving the scrap of paper. _Girlfriend_. She laughed at the notion again. Partner sounded more official, they were technically still working colleagues, but girlfriend was innocent and wistful and light. Regardless of term, the way her chest ignited when she brushed past her shoulder, or the way the air smelled better after she’d stepped through it into the store was nothing short of remarkable.

And as she followed after her, that spark caught flames... and insistently burned.

*******

Emily walked into the kitchen section with Jesse and her note. The first step in furnishing their apartment, getting a table. They were really doing it. They were moving in and making it official. She smiled at the thought.

Furniture shopping was a rather banal task but, it was exciting knowing it wouldn’t just be hers. It’d be theirs. And more than anything, Jesse deserved something that resembled a home. So it would be treated with the appropriate magnitude.

She turned to see the Faden in question staring intently at a square oak table. She seemed to like it, but then for some reason she grabbed the end and shook it as if conducting some physical exam. Emily breathed a laugh at the display.

“What’re you doing?”

“Checking for sturdiness.” Jesse said as she turned with an amused look. Surprisingly suggestive for tableware shopping.

“How aggressively are you going to eat off it?” Emily laughed, shaking her head. Her table manners weren’t that bad, though she cut her steak like she was cutting down a tree.

“Depends what I’m eating.” She lowered her voice on the last note and it sent a warm tingle down her neck as she realized the implication.

“Y-“ She shook her head and composed herself. “You can not be serious.” Her voice falling to a whisper on the last few words.

“Don’t tell me you’re not picturing it.” Jesse said, a little too smug for her taste, but damn did she look good with that half-grin and her arms crossed. And… admittedly…

She was.

Instead of dignifying that with a response, she cleared her throat and gave her most indifferent look, ignoring the heat building in her chest. That turned out to be unconvincing, and- more tragically, instigating as she saw that toothy, playful grin Jesse got whenever there was a challenge to be had.

_Ahh hell._

*******

Jesse was feeling adventurous. She’d said the first line to get a rise, but once she’d gotten it so easy… she wanted to get another.

She saw the way Emily tried to brush it off, but her shoulders rose just so, and she walked off with a pep in her step as if a How It’s Made Marathon was starting in the living room. She was rattled.

And Jesse could just drop it… or… she could see how much further she could rattle her head of research. Call it a field study.

*******

They trekked through the rest of the kitchen section, Emily still with a few haphazard butterflies in her stomach, and took special care not to catch Jesse’s eye for too long. She’d flash that little sexy smirk anytime she did. And she could swear she was doing this on purpose…

Jesse sauntered around casually and opened an oven door to peek inside. Her playful look paused and Emily stopped to see what had caught her attention.

“Hmm… see that Em?” She said as she came to her side to follow her eye line. She didn’t see anything of notice, but then that playful look was locked back in, point blank.

“It’s the second hottest thing in the room.” Her voice was that little seductive hum she used when they were alone, and it could almost make her forget the ridiculous one-liner that was just dropped. Emily shook her head and turned away.

“Jesse we have a lot of shopping to do.”

“Are you saying my methods aren’t _conventional_?”

“Oven jokes, really?”

“Not a _turn on_?” Jesse called after her, and damn it if it wasn’t endearing.

They got to the end of that section though Emily could’ve sworn it took all morning. She quickly picked out the set of dishes and glassware that they’d looked at online together, and was starting to feel the need to rush this excursion.

“I’ll get the silverware.” Jesse called out, and for a moment Emily thought maybe she’d been done with the silly games and was back on track. Until she looked up to see her holding up a spoon, knife, and fork.  
  
“Like these? We have something for spooning… something for _spreading_ … and something for-”  
  
“Jesse if you say forking… I may have to rethink this move-in.” Emily warned, unable to look serious with the actual lunacy of these jokes.  
  
“I wasn’t going to say that.” Jesse laughed, mock offended.  
  
“No?”  
  
“ _No_.”  
  
“What were you going to say?”  
  
“ _Prodding_.” She said, stepping closer, twirling the fork between her fingers.  
  
Emily was at a loss. Usually banter and word play would come naturally between them, but there was something almost unfair about the way she was playing this game. And even more distracting was _why was it working?_  
  
She felt the soft poke of the fork pressing little grooves in the flesh beneath her chin and then it was tilting her head up to meet those blue blue eyes that always seemed to change in the light.  
  
“You alright there Dr. Pope? Something on your mind?” The way her tone changed at the end, going up an octave with an airiness of invitation... she was really trying this, here and now. But they had a list for crying out loud. And Emily Pope was many things, but she was someone who finished a _list_.  
  
“Just that you’re slowing us down.” Emily said, averting her eyes.  
  
“I like to take my time.” She said in a dreamy whisper.  
  
“Y-” Emily couldn’t even get the word out.

The kitchen section was behind them now, thankfully, and Emily was hoping her advances would be too.  
  
Instead she got- “Nice sofa’s. Or you know the other name for these?” Jesse turned and sprawled back. One leg dangled over the arm of the suede couch, both of her hands reclined behind her head. That slick smile that drove her crazy. “Love seat.”  
  
She curled the _’L_ ’ in the way that stirred in the pit of Emily’s stomach, and she could almost picture climbing over top her to wipe that smug look off her face.  
  
_Wait, what?  
  
_Emily had to shake her head of it like a dog coming in from the rain. Jesse noticed, eyes flaring in that mystical blue.  
  
“Suede really?” Was all she said, turning away before she could get pulled in.  
  
“Were you thinking leather?”  
  
How did she make everything sound so seductive?  
  
  
  
In the bathroom section Emily walked into one of the walk-in showers, half wishing she could turn the display on and douse herself in cold water. This was getting distracting, and she was determined to not even _look_ Jesse’s way.  
  
The Director pressed up behind her a moment later as she was trying to study the shower caddie. Looping her arms under her own with a slight hum, and pulled flush against her back. She felt the warmth of her breath on her neck as she leaned in further, and goosebumps spread down her arms. Good goosebumps.  
  
“I always did like you in the shower.” She said sultrily into her ear, driving her absolutely mad.  
  
“Jess, _please_.” She was trying to sound scolding but her voice betrayed her. Jesse hummed again.  
  
“Now where have I heard that before?”  
  
And she ran her tongue along the back of her ear. Emily quivered under the action. She wanted to pull away but also… _didn’t_. Another nip to her ear and Jesse drifted a step back. She almost missed the warmth...  
  
“Should we look at towels? Something to dry you off with?” She walked casually with her arms behind her back, as if she were the picture of innocence. All that was missing was a whistle.  
  
Emily curled her fingers in her hand. She wouldn’t give in. She _wouldn’t_ let her win this game she was sent on playing. She was determined to reach checkout with their purchases, check everything off her list, and _then_ …  
  
She swallowed.  
  
_We’ll see._  
  
She lifted up her pencil, albeit shaky, and checked off the shower caddy box. She couldn't remember how it looked but to hell with it. It’d be fine. She just needed to get through this before her body spontaneously combusted.  
  
  
  
They walked into the next section and Emily grimaced when she realized… it was the bedroom sets.  
  
She could feel Jesse smiling beside her, winding up for something devious and clever to send her over the edge.  
  
“Don’t.” She said, as deadly serious as she could manage. Leaving no wiggle room.  
  
“Just. _Don’t_.”  
  
She could already hear the quips about getting in the sheets, or testing the springs, or just the _sight_ of her laying pushed up on those pillows right now.  
  
Shit now she was doing it to herself.  
  
She slapped her notes over Jesse’s chest beside her.  
  
“Just go find a bedside table you like. Check it off on the list. Meet me in lamps.” She turned and walked away before she could even see her react.  
  
But she could feel the chuckle on Jesse’s soft eyes, and imagine that cocky lean of hers when she knew she was winning.  
  
She wished she’d brought her clipboard so she could hide her face behind it.  
  
She found herself in the lighting area staring at a single desk top lamp, hands braced on the surface it stood upon. She didn’t often stare this bad. But she found herself spacing out until her note was held up in her eye-line. Jesse had come up behind her, mercifully not quite as close, and held her post-it out as an offer.  
  
“Done.” Jesse said softly. Emily was hyper aware of the way her hairs were standing up on the back of her neck. She was so wound... It was getting very distracting… terribly so… “Almost got everything.”

She took the note back to give herself something to do and noticed that while the box for nightstand had been checked, under it had been added one more box that eloquently said: Fuck Girlfriend

*******

They finished their purchases. Jesse walked with her hands behind her back as they entered into the long lines of checkouts and offered her wallet to the cashier. Emily signed the address for them to ship, and they were done. She had pushed enough and was willing to admit, she’d lost the battle.  
  
But boy what a battle it had been.  
  
She was back on her good behavior and would let the playfulness drift away, having seen Emily win the moral high ground.  
  
And then Emily grabbed the front of her jacket as they rounded the corner and pushed her against a janitor's closet by the exit.  
  
Jesse blinked in surprise once, twice, before her little canine smile returned.  
  
“So you did notice?”  
  
“How could I not?” Emily laughed, slightly breathless, a little fire dancing in her studious, glazed over eyes. “Jesse I swear, you are driving me _crazy_.”  
  
“So… race home?” Jesse asked, already enjoying the fruits of her labors in the way she was staring at her lips.  
  
“Not home. Car. Now.” Emily said back, an excited quiver to her voice.  
  
“Car? Wow. Someone’s eager.” Jesse chuckled, feeling a spike of dopamine at the idea.  
  
“Well we _do_ have one more box to check… and _someone’s_ been pushing buttons.” She said as their lips brushed ever so slightly, and damn Jesse loved this part. When she played back. She knew how to rile _her_ up too. “Did that same someone not expect there to be reactions to their prodding?”  
  
“I didn’t want to assume, that would be academically irresponsible.” Jesse countered. “I remember the scientific method afterall.”  
  
Emily sighed into a dreamy hum. “Is that supposed to be dirty talk?”  
  
Jesse stuttered. Emily had taken the upperhand.  
  
“Is it working?” She tried, practically burning up on the wall. Emily released her hold on Jesse’s leather jacket and turned briskly to the exit doors.  
  
“One way to find out _madam director…_ ”  
  
There was a giddy rise in her chest, knowing where this path was leading, and _very_ much looking forward to it.  
  
“That again? What happened to _Jesse_?”  
  
“Make good on your promises, and I’ll scream it.” She said without breaking stride or inflection.  
  
Jesse promptly walked into an abandoned shopping cart. All the work she’d put in in the last hour... and Emily disarmed her with a sentence… She’d have to bring her A-game to win the war. She intended to.

**Author's Note:**

> Wha-BAM. That was that 😂
> 
> No actual smut just all this energy.
> 
> While I’ve got you (and if youre still reading this I figure I cant alienate you further) do you think Emily would be turned on by listing the Periodic Table of the Elements? Asking for a friend and potential sequel 😂😂😂
> 
> Thanks as always for reading ya’ll ❤️


End file.
